Cyrille Verdeaux

by Geoff OrensThe founder and only continual member of the French symphonic progressive band Clearlight, Cyrille Verdeaux has recorded several albums under his own moniker since the early '80s. Influenced by Indian music, yoga, and meditation, many of his solo releases have a more new age sound than his work with Clearlight. The composer has issued two albums based around samples of ethnic groups in danger of being wiped out.
Cyrille Verdeaux was born in Paris, France, on July 31, 1949. In 1965, he began studying composition, harmony, and piano at the French National Conservatory of Music. There he won first place in student composition three years in a row. In 1968, during the student uprisings, he was dismissed for revolutionary activities. Following this, he attended the Nice Conservatory where he earned his master's degree, then returned to Paris and formed the band Babylone with the guitarist Christian Boule. Verdeaux went on to form the progressive rock band Clearlight in the early '70s, which released several albums with a constantly changing roster of musicians. In the mid-'70s, he composed and recorded the music to the film Visa de Censure # X. This album was released as Delired Cameleon Family. The movie and score were later purchased by the French Museum of Modern Art.
Verdeaux continued to record with Clearlight throughout the 1970s, but the death of his four-year-old son led him to travel to India, where his studying with various ashrams in music, yoga, and meditation profoundly influenced him. In 1980, he traveled to the United States. While there, he released the albums Nocturne Digitales (1980), which featured sounds used by the composer to quiet transient brainwaves of the listener, and Offrandes (1981). After another period of time in India, the composer returned and released Prophecy, Moebius, and Shambala. Collaborating with producer, engineer, and manager Josh Goldstein, Verdeaux recorded Flowers From Heaven, Piano for the Third Ear, and Journey to the Tantra Land in 1983. Verdeaux drew from these albums to create the Kundalini Opera (1984), which was only released on cassette. He followed with Messenger of the Son (1985), which saw the artist mix some his more new age material with aggressive progressive rock. He returned to France in 1987 and began to teach music. In 1988, he released Rhapsody for the Blue Planet. Two years later, Verdeaux released the first of two new albums to be recorded under the Clearlight name. In 1999, he released the ethnic electronic album Tribal Hybrid Concept with ethnological sample specialist Pascal Menestreyl. Ethnicolours, released the same year, used the same samples, but added dance beats.